Fine I'll Kiss You, Doctor
by wickedsingularity
Summary: [x-mas stories 2018 #6, drabble] New Year's Eve on Archer IV. Everyone is obsessed with the old Earth tradition of kissing someone at midnight. I don't really wanna kiss any of these people, but that grumpy doctor happens to stand next to me at midnight, so why not.


This kissing someone at midnight was a stupid tradition better left in the past. But I still looked around the room for the millionth time, wondering if there was anyone I'd like to kiss. And there were still none. If I _had_ to, just to kiss _someone_ , I'd take Jim, the lesser of all evils, but he was engaged to one of my friends, and was most likely going to kiss her.

I swivelled my chair back around to face the bar and a glass of Saurian brandy. I lifted the glass to my lips and took a long sip, feeling the burn down my throat. Impromptu shore leave on Archer IV was nice, but I'd rather be out there continuing the study of the animal life that I'd only read about at the Academy. There were some nocturnal marsupials here that I could be looking up right now.

The reason we were orbiting Archer IV wasn't really shore-leave, but the Captain had some diplomatic thing or other to attend, and we were changing some crew members around. It so happened to be Earth's New Year's Eve during this time, and the Chief Medical Officer had made the Captain grant shore leave for two days.

"Lieutenant," a gruff voice suddenly said.

I looked to my left and saw the very same Chief Medical Officer that had requested this little respite. "Doctor." I was not exactly on good terms with Doctor Leonard McCoy. My first week on Enterprise, I had unknowingly brought Kamaraazite flu onboard, infecting a large number of the crew before the good doctor managed to get it under control. That didn't exactly earn me any stars in his book.

"Enjoying the party?" he asked and signalled for the Betazoid bartender to fill up his glass.

I eyed him sideways. Doctor McCoy making small talk with me? What if I gave him some nasty disease? He, of course, had also caught the Kamaraazite flu from me. "It's okay. The drink is good."

He made a sound of agreement. The bartender filled up his glass, and McCoy nodded in thanks before swallowing down half the contents. "The drink is good," he mirrored.

"I thought you'd have more fun," I said. "Weren't you the one who requested we get shore leave?"

"Who says I'm not having fun?" he snapped as if I'd insulted his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother all at once.

"Excuse me then." I turned my head away from him and looked down the bar. Uhura was there, ordering a few drinks.

"Midnight soon," she said and winked.

I nodded and forced a smile. "Give Spock my best." This obsession with kissing someone at midnight was ridiculous. Humanity had outgrown a lot of its weaknesses, but in my opinion, there were a few things left to work on.

As if he had read my mind, McCoy spoke on my other side again. "You got someone to kiss at midnight?"

I resisted raising my eyebrows. That was _none_ of his business! "Haven't found anyone up to my standards," I replied and rolled the brandy around in my glass.

McCoy just grunted and checked his comm. "Ten minutes left. Better hurry up and lower your standards."

"Do _you_ have someone to kiss?" I turned fully to him now, getting a little annoyed at how extra grumpy he was and how he dared let it out on me.

"None of your business if I do," he said, but I noticed that his eyes dropped to my lips for a split second.

I snorted in a very unladylike fashion and finished my Saurian brandy. "Well, you'll be pleased to know that even if I remove my standards altogether, I still wouldn't kiss you. Besides, you might catch another flu from me."

"Very careless of you to bring that goddamn flu onboard."

"I had a complete physical before I beamed up," I defended and swung around to face the room. "Not my fault that Martian Colony 3 doctor didn't find it."

"If you'd come straight to sickbay for your physical when you came onboard, I could have limited the outbreak."

"There is no regulation that says I have to go straight to sickbay after finishing a physical just four hours before I beam up from a Federation planet."

McCoy gritted his teeth, the muscles in his temples almost vibrating. "My god, you are infuriating," he muttered. "Just like Jim."

"I heard that."

"Good."

I wanted to refill my brandy and throw it in his face, but even if this was an off-duty event and the Captain was past just tipsy, judging from the way he had his hands all over his fiancé, I was pretty sure Jim would have my head for insubordination.

"One minute to midnight," someone shouted from somewhere.

"Find anyone yet?" McCoy asked. He too was glancing around the room.

"If you keep asking me if I have anyone to kiss, I'll start to think you want me to kiss _you_ ," I snapped.

His head whirled around. "When pigs can fly."

"Thirty seconds to midnight!"

"Harry Mudd has a ship that can fly."

McCoy's eyes widened, and the corner of his lips twitched. He chewed on the inside of his chin, and I couldn't believe I had made the grumpy Chief Medical Officer struggle not to laugh.

"Ten! Nine! Eight!" People began counting down, more and more voices joining each second.

McCoy still looked at me, the repressed laughter leaving his face.

"Seven! Six!"

His face moved closer to mine, and I didn't back away.

"Five! Four! Three!"

One of his hands moved to the back of my head and he licked his lips.

"Two!"

I could smell the bourbon on his breath.

"One!"

His lips caught mine.

"Happy New Year!" There were shouts and whoops and whistles, but I barely noticed.

McCoy moved his lips against mine, his other hand coming up to cradle my face. I straightened up a bit on my seat, pressing harder against him and he took a step closer. My hands moved to his waist, grabbing fistfuls of the white shirt to keep him close.

All around us, people went back to drinking and dancing and talking. But I pulled away only long enough to draw a breath and then pulled on McCoy's shirt for another kiss. My entire body felt like I had drowned in Saurian brandy, it burned and tickled. He tasted just like bourbon and I don't know what kind he had been drinking, but I'm pretty sure I was getting second-hand drunk from him.

He was the one who pulled back to breathe now, letting go of me and taking a step back. His eyes opened slowly, his skin looking a little flushed. "That uhm... Well."

"Uh-huh."

He turned around and leaned his elbows on the bar and grabbed his half-empty glass, swivelling the liquid around, but not drinking any. I turned to face the same direction. The silence between us was awkward, but there were a million thoughts running through my mind, or one thought in a million copies, I couldn't be sure.

That had been very unexpected. But not unpleasant. "I'd like to do that again," I admitted.

He breathed deeply through his nose, then swallowed the contents of his glass in one large gulp. "Let's go," he said and held out his hand.

Without hesitating, I grabbed it and let him lead me out from the New Year's Eve party, to wherever he wanted.


End file.
